This month I’d resolved to branch out with my writing.  This isn’t a resolution that I’d expected to accomplish all in one month, but rather one that I’d work on throughout the year and then reflect on when October rolled around.

My aim was to stretch myself outside my comfort zone a little and write more about things that are personal or controversial.  I wanted to practice putting my opinions out there more often and publishing posts that touched on issues that are more sensitive.  I have a lot to say on topics such as mental illness, self care and body image and these in particular were areas that I wanted to write about.

I think I’ve done pretty well so far.  At the beginning of the year, I wrote a post about what it’s like to suffer from emetophobia, and I got a huge response from my readers.  This really encouraged me to write more challenging and deeper posts.

An email from a diet company asking me to promote their products on my blog prompted me to write about my feelings about diet products and the diet industry in general.  I also wrote a post about learning to love my crooked smile.

When my nine-year relationship ended this year, I went through a huge amount of turmoil and pain.  I had to move out of the home that we’d been making for ourselves and into a flat on my own.  I went through a real self-esteem crisis.  I also had to learn to romance myself. And each of those experiences prompted me to write a blog post.  Each of those posts got a great response from my readers, and so I feel heartened that I can write about difficult and personal things without experiencing a backlash.

One of the most rewarding things about writing these posts have been the emails from people all around the world telling me how much I’ve helped them.  Sometimes, when you’re going through a rough time it helps so much just to know that there is someone else who is going through a similar situation.  I feel truly happy to know that my writing has brought a little sparkle of hope into a couple of lives.

So I think I’ve done pretty well with this resolution.  I’m interested in continuing to push the boundaries of my comfort zone and write about some of the other things that are important to me, but which are tricky to put out there into the world.